“These aren’t people who’ve been convicted of grand larceny or some serious crime,” she insisted. “They’re not selling drugs or committing robberies. They’re working.”

Also, contrary to the administration’s claim that it’s going after employers, those who operated the dairy weren’t cited for wrongdoing by authorities, let alone arrested.

I’m glad Cooksey has figured out that she and other immigrant advocates have been hoodwinked. But this shouldn’t have come as such a surprise.

Obama’s assurances could never have been true because his administration’s immigration policy is all about the numbers. Being able to brag about deporting 1 million illegal immigrants (a goal the administration is on track to meet by Labor Day) is better than claiming the administration has only removed half that number.

And with only an estimated 150,000-200,000 criminal aliens sitting in the nation’s jails and prisons, the administration can’t get to the 1 million figure by relying on that population alone.

Furthermore, officials will never be able to increase the number of deportations by only focusing on employers; they have to continue to round up the illegal immigrants being employed. Whether they do this through workplace raids or by relying on the force multiplier of using local police as surrogates under programs like Secure Communities, which requires local police departments to submit to federal officials the fingerprints of suspected illegal immigrants apprehended for other crimes, the end game is the same: to rack up as many deportations as possible.

Don’t misunderstand. There is nothing wrong with that. Illegal immigrants should be deported. That’s not the issue. The issue is veracity and demagoguery. The problem isn’t what the Obama administration is doing. It’s that officials — including Obama himself — won’t admit to what they’re doing. How can they when they’re so busy trying to portray themselves as a kinder and gentler alternative to Republicans — with little evidence to back that up?

Ruben Navarrette Jr. is a member of the editorial board of the San Diego Union Tribune, a nationally syndicated columnist, a frequent lecturer, and a regular contributor to CNN.com.

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1.
lee

I don’t like immigration raids on workplaces either, unless dangerous criminals were suspected of working there.

But I don’t really buy that industries will collapse without illegal immigrant labor. Someone will eventually take those jobs. If no one does, then we can bring in workers abroad who are willing to work for low wages. Businesses who hire undocumented workers have essentially outsourced anyways. They hired foreign nationals living in the country.

Without these illegals, what would happen is the company would a) raise the pay rate to find people willing to do the job and stay on b) automate the job or c) go out of business because competitors figured out to produce a better product at a better price.

Of course, if we didn’t have minimum wage, then the companies would have the option to legally pay someone what the going rate for the job was.

Businesses are charged with OBEYING laws, as we all are. These bums didn’t- big time.Yes many scum break laws; because they are lawbreaking offal. We don’t want to put ourselves in that category, do we?

Sure we are are all required to obey the laws — unless maybe you are the Secretary of Treasury, the U.S. Attorney General or Barack Obama — but being as how this dairy wasn’t charged with anything what makes you think it wasn’t?

To what degree should you be required to investigate the documentation presented by those you hire?

I, for one, don’t want any more regulation on businesses and I certainly don’t want a national ID card.

How about you?

Also, I think it should be noted every chance we get to point out the biggest reason for the illegal immigration mess is that it’s encourage by certain elements who have acquired control over large parts of our government.

Why is one praised when one expresses outrage about illegals doing basically honest work in a business but one called a racist when one asks why illegals are getting food stamps?

I suspect Obama and the other “progressives” are going to try to use illegal immigration as a means to remove more of our freedoms just as how some think Operation Fast and Furious is an underhanded attempt to sow the ground for more gun restrictions.

“The issue is veracity and demagoguery.”
If that’s the case, then STFU, Navarrette!

You are the loudest – and sole? – defender on PJM of eliminating laws against what we not call illegal immigration. And then, you pretend to be shocked, SHOCKED! that Obama wishes to “appear to” enforce certain laws as he sees fit…in this case, a law you would wish to eliminate. Part of the “it’s time to make Obama look more like a centrist that the Left Radical he truly is” team.

Are you ever going to preach some principles to a latin american audience or are you just going to pander them by using immigration issues? how about tell them to integrate? how about to teach them to leave behind any bad habits (e.g. dependence on government/welfare system)? what about to tell them to work hard and pay their own bills? If they learn to repudiate the welfare state, and work hard to pay the bills, for that only, they would earn respect from their fellow Americans who would quickly embrace them as Americans too on the basis of shared virtues and values. How about that, Mr. Navarrette?

Why do Hispanics who are not illegal aliens care so much about amnesty and “immigration reform”? Are they seeking to transform southern US into Mexico through demographics, against the express will of the American people? Or is there some alternative explanation?

We share a social contract to obey all the laws all the time. The alternative is chaos. We must either enforce our laws or change them. Ignoring and violating them, on whatever pretexts is disastrous.
Clintonism, “What is the meaning of ‘is’,” and Obamavasion, “Bombing libyan forces does nor constitute hostilities”, are both lies told by liars and hypocrites. Navarettetics is the art of dissimulation in re illegal immigration. Navarette is a professional mexican, even though he isn’t really mexican. He lives high on the hog by lying, misrepresenting the facts in manners pleasing to his leftist supporters. He makes fools of himself and his supporters in the process.

Nonetheless, there are untold numbers of illegal immigrants who work hard and try to improve life for their families here, because it is not possible to do so in Mexico. The drug cartels now control Mexico. They have intimidated the populace, the police, the army and the government. We live on the border, in an American town which has a 95% mexican population. Just across the bridge, the Zetas do as they wish. Who can live with that state of affairs?
And what has Obama done about it? Less than nothing; arming the drug dealers through our ATF.

Our hearts go out to the hones folk who are abused in other countries. But the mexican government will not accept our help. Plainly, their leadership has been bought and/or intimidated. If we opened our doors to every deserving person in the world, they would all be here and we would have to move out.

If we do not do so, on an irrevocable basis, in thirty or forty years hispanics will be the majority, and that majority will swing the gates open and end the USA. They may even put a statue of Navarette in the park for the pigeons to adorn with their offerings.

According the Census, the next generation of Americans will be 40% hispanic. While they are very hard workers, unfortunately, they are generally not given over to venerating education, as see by the astronomical high school drop out rates into the 3rd generation.

Hispanics who want comprehensive immigration reform and an end to the demonizing of immigrants along with working-class whites and African-Americans who feel that they’ll never be able to compete with illegal immigrants for jobs and insist they shouldn’t have to try.

And with only an estimated 150,000-200,000 criminal aliens sitting in the nation’s jails and prisons, the administration can’t get to the 1 million figure by relying on that population alone.

Let me take each of the above paragraphs, Ruben, and see if we can see where one might take a little different path from your…um…”logic”.

“Hispanics who want comprehensive immigration reform”. This is the first among the sleight of hand (or perhaps sleight of tongue) tricks in this essay.

Amnesty for border crashing is not reform. It’s absolution for a criminal trespass, identity theft, theft of services, tax evasion, and the imposition of a hefty fiscal burden upon a foreign land’s citizens.

We can water it down, give it flowery words and phrases, but unless and until the proponents of absolution man up and admit what they are really asking, then they are always going to come off as shady. As well they should. If you can’t be honest about asking for an enormous favor, for forgiveness for your trespasses, you are simply adding lying, deceit and fraud to the list of sins, not seeking penance for the ones already committed.

….an end to the demonizing of immigrants along with working-class whites and African-Americans who feel that they’ll never be able to compete with illegal immigrants for jobs and insist they shouldn’t have to try.

Do you realize just how inane this is? I fear you do not. Who is “demonizing immigrants”? In the phrase ILLEGAL immigrants, the key phrase is ILLEGAL. You can’t just scrub that out and them make a broad brush statement that infuses a phony “race card” element against blacks and whites…picking on browns. Look, the race card ploy is so stale, lame and limp at this point from overuse, it only serves to make you look plain silly. So cut the crapola on why reasonable, rational, sound thinking, fair minded people don’t like ten million border crashers coming into the country with impunity and burdening our already overtaxed citizenry with all their attendant needs…and crimes.

Secondly, your arrogance is beneath contempt. Working class whites and African Americans don’t think they can compete with illegal aliens? Why don’t they stay home and try to beat us in the global marketplace then? If they were so great as to be beyond our ability to compete…you would think they wouldn’t have to sneak in here and fake an entire life…they could just be that wonderful in their own homeland.

This sick dog won’t hunt. Upstanding citizens…I mean the ones who are here legitimately…want to compete fairly. A lying sneak takes a job that could go to our 14 million American citizens who are out of work. That’s just about the exact same number of people who are here taking those jobs away…as well as services that we may have to cut back on.

We can’t afford a million more every year. And, if that many are being deported A YEAR…the burden of having to catch them costs us money, resources and effort that could be spend on getting our country healthy again.

Finally, as for ONLY a quarter of a million criminals IN OUR JAILS…(not counting the ones who have not been caught yet…much less convicted), the gangs, drug running, gun running, murder, rape, violent crime….you do realize that army of slime is larger than the amount of brave soldiers we have fighting in our theater of operations keeping THIS country safe, right?

That amount of criminality may raise the word “only” in your mind. I guarantee you…for anyone who actually cares about THIS country…”only” would not ever pass their lips.

Your slip is showing, Ruben. You don’t give a damn about this land of ours. Or its people…black, white, red, yellow…OR brown. Obama is pandering to all your worst instincts…and you are calling him on it…because you want him to turn his back on America, just like you have.

There is FREEDOM in America, as compared to the corruption and associated sagging economy in Mexico and points South.
I’d suggest to you that THAT is likely a more direct cause of folks illegally crossing OUR border…out of desperation/hope.

Just because there ARE jobs HERE, does NOT necessarily mean that they are the “lure”…and certainly not the justification…for illegal aliens to cross OUR border without meeting proper requirements.

You, too, would benefit from reading David Mamet’s book, “The Secret Knowledge,” to releive yourself from the burdensome delusions of the Left, which you so clearly bear under duress.

Tweety, I have the perfect solution for American companies not hiring illegal aliens, let’s ask Calderon to let them build those same company complexes in Mexico and hire the exact same people.

If they are that great at being workers illegally, think how much more effective and efficient they would be doing the exact same thing AND not breaking a dozen or so laws. Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

AND…let’s ask Calderon to let the same number of Americans work in those factories as well…and send all their money back here, tax free. Let the Mexican government provide police, fire, roads, bridges, health care, and education…in ENGLISH to the children of the Americans, but they can’t ask for a dime of tax money from them.

We can cap the number at under 15 million Americans.

Any number over that…and it is up to the Mexican government to catch, retrieve and deport the excess baggage. Those not caught, get to stay…and, if they have kids…it’s automatic “squatters rights” for all the freebies they can muster.

First! Seems all to many folks (city slickers) haven’t a clue what economic sectors utilize the most immigrant workers and why. Of the big three that the common folks understand and partake of benefit the most from, is agri/food…residential construction and textile. Sure it is popular to complain about immigrant workers but, lets assume for a moment they disappear tomorrow. Two things! 1) IF there were enough American’s who would work those jobs there wouldn’t be an issue of immigrant workers. 2) Without those immigrant workers all you folks would be bitching to the high heavens about the cost of most, foods sources…housing costs….clothing (assuming more was made in the USA).

Immigration is easy to fix should there actually be that thing called the will-of-the-people.

You establish ‘controlled immigration’ based upon the economic needs for the hard sciences and engineering along with temporary student visa’s for the hard sciences and engineering in undergraduate and post graduate studies. Now, you only have two (2) very distinct types of visa documents to deal with and only one allows ‘restricted’ employment indicated on their document. At the end of seven (7) continuous years of restricted employment, those individuals and their immediate family must apply for citizenship or…. return to their coutries of orign. NO individuals from countries considered to be adversarial to the national security of the United States shall be permitted to apply for such restricted visa’s.

Pretty simple if folks really wanted to control the nations welfare population, the quality of immigrants, the national employment and national security.

But…good luck in getting enough ‘reliable’ American’s to fill all those hard labor and crappy jobs at minimum wage so folks can afford those consumer products. AND…good luck in getting the politicians of the parties to stop using/leveraging uncontrolled immigration for votes.

As long as Americans are buffered by subsidized housing, daycare, WIC, welfare, 99 weeks unemployment, etc … they’ll be picky about the jobs they choose. Illegals are better workers than our own underclass. If they don’t work, they and their kids don’t eat because they don’t get government assistance. I see nothing wrong with able bodied Americans standing on the same corner as those day laborers. The pay might not be great but it’s better than making zero.

But I don’t see Americans on that corner. Neither are Americans willing to travel hundreds of miles to pick fruit for the summer while Central Americans will. During the Great Depression Americans did indeed travel lengthy distances for work.

Lazy thinking, lazy attempt at an excuse, much less rationalization.
I don’t know of a single welfare agency out there focused on the – as you say – underclass, as there are spanish-language organizations and advocacy groups which make the USAmerican Gravy Train a cake walk for any Sout Of The Border Illegal.

Whether illegal aliens are good, hardworking, taxpaying persons; or whether they are welfareite criminals- all are here illegally and must be deported. The deportees go to the very end of the line, and wait their turn. If they have not got a proper government to provide a milieu in which life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are attainable, they need to elect one which will serve them better. If they won’t do that they alone remain responsible for their sad state of affairs. The same is true of us. We must rid ourselves of the communists now in charge and elect real Americans who will govern wisely and constitutionally.

IKE was notorious for rounding up Illegal Mexican Workers and deporting them to Mexico? FDR did it TWICE. Mexico..the other nation in which Naveretto is a full citizen..does it today! The Mexican Army escorts Central Americans to the border..after taking their money or having them serve a jail sentence…and kicks them out. The Italian Army does it today! They escort illegal aliens to the border…and out they go..with guns pointed at them. Ditto China. Ditto Russia. BUT for the USA to Deport Anyone…….is notorious. To the Invaders..who by using Affirmative Action to educate Radicals like Rueben…to give them the good life..knowing they would spend their lives demeaning and degrading Americans..and demanding that millions and millions of illegal aliens continue to pour into the USA.
We have lost the Immigrant War. Lamar Smith working with the Chamber of Commerce has gutted E-Verify. He claims “only the Feds can enforce immigration law”. He is now outted. Conservative, my foot. Sen. Durbin is crying that an Illegal Alien may be our next president.( He could be right). An entire audience of Illegal Aliens were invited to D.C. and Juanita Napoliano..assured them personally none of them would ever be deported. Obama…has ordered that immigration laws be ignored.
I don’t know why Old Revolutionary Rueben….say “He Loves Che”..is angry. MEXICO HAS WON THEIR WAR WITH THE USA. THEY RULE. LOOK TO THE SOCCER GAME IN L.A. LAST WEEK END. IN L.A. MEXICO WAS THE HOME TEAM.

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